the Trinitarians, and against perils at sea. Brought up by St. Radegund, queen of France, who founded the abbey of Ste. Croix, at Poitiers, and gave it the rule of St. Cesaria; she appointed Agnes first abbess of her convent, and went with her to Aries to be instructed in the rule. Radegund died a nun in the same convent in 687, leaving to it a large endowment by a will, in which Agnes is mentioned. The existence of these two saints within their "narrowing nunnery walls" was enlivened by the friendship and sympathy of a poet whose works have come down to us. Venantius Fortunatus, the last Latin poet of Gaul, was for many years an inmate of the monastery of Ste. Croix. After visiting the kings and bishops of France, he came to pay his respects to the widowed queen Radegund, stepmother of the kings, and was so charmed with the amiable and intellectual society and the superior cultivation of the sisterhood, that he stayed there as chaplain and almoner till the death of St. Radegund. The queen often sent him on important missions to various personages, and thus the community were kept informed and interested concerning what was going on in other places. He managed the external business of the nuns, and took part in their occupations. They read and transcribed books, they acted plays, they received visitors, they had little feasts on birthdays. Fortunatus made himself agreeable to them as he had done to saintly bishops and half-civilized kings; and he found their house an oasis of peace and refinement in a desert of barbarism. His writings describe the convent life and the food, in which he seems to have been a connoisseur. He takes Christ to witness that his affection for Agnes was that of a brother. Among his poems are two hymns adopted by the Church — Pange, lingua and Vexilla Regis. He wrote a Life of St. Radegund, which, as well as another by one of her nuns, is preserved by the Bollandists. He was born in Italy about 530, and died bishop of Poitiers early in the 7th century. SS. Radegund and Agnes had a great deal of trouble with two very naughty princesses, Chrodielde and Basine (see Audovera), who were placed under their care, and who, after the death of these first rulers of Ste. Croix, rebelled against Ludovera, the next abbess, one of them demanding that office as a king's daughter, though utterly unqualified for the post. A great scandal ensued; bishops and kings had to interfere before the refractory ladies were removed, to the great relief of Ludovera and the good nuns. AA.SS. Boll., Aug. 13. St. Radegund is in all the collections, and St. Agnes is always mentioned in her story. Nouvelle Biographie Universelle, "Fornatus." Dict. of Christian Biog., "Rhadegundis" and "Fortunatus." Thierry, Recits Merovingiens.
B. Agnes (7), Dec. 23. Called Agnes Augusta and Agnes of Aquitaino or of Poitiers, † 1077. O.S.B. Daughter of William, duke of Aquitaine. Second wife of Henry III. (the Black), king of Germany, Emperor. Mother of Henry IV. Grandmother of B. Agnes, marchioness of Austria. The dukes of Aquitaine were the most powerful vassals of the crown of Franco, and very rich. An alliance with them was as advantageous as one with the house of Capet; and there was more refinement and culture at their court than at that of the king. Agnes*s father was distinguished among the princes of his time, no less by his virtues and intellectual tastes and accomplishments, than for his territorial wealth and other advantages. He had been dead some years when, in 1043, Agnes married Henry, king of Germany. When first the project of Henry's marriage was known in Germany, many good people objected, fearing that a queen from France, and from a court where modern fashions prevailed, would be less circumspect and dignified than the first lady in Germany ought to be; and would introduce extravagant and unseemly customs and modes of dress; but this fear soon proved groundless: nothing could be more modest, amiable, sincerely conscientious, and religious, than the character and behaviour of the young queen. She was crowned at Maintz, and her first home in Germany was Ingelhoim.
